Judge extends pause on Trump bid to block Harvard foreign students

BOSTON: A judge on Monday extended a restraining order pausing Donald Trump´s ban on Harvard bringing in and hosting foreign students as part of the US president´s escalating campaign against the elite university.

Trump has tried a host of different tactics to block the Ivy League institution enrolling and educating international students. They have included seeking to remove Harvard from an electronic student immigration registry, and instructing foreign embassies to deny visas to students hoping to attend the Massachusetts-based university.

Harvard had sued the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to block the efforts, arguing that they were illegal and unconstitutional. It previously secured a temporary restraining order against the government, which federal Judge Allison Burroughs extended Monday at a hearing in Boston.

International students accounted for 27 percent of total enrollment at Harvard in the 2024-2025 academic year and are a major source of income.

“Court takes matter under advisement. Current temporary restraining order will stay in effect through June 23,” the court clerk wrote on the electronic case docket. The halt on the Trump administration´s crackdown on Harvard´s foreign enrollees will be in force until Burroughs decides whether to further extend it with a preliminary injunction.